Chinese soccer has entered a new period of turmoil. Starting with the investigation of former national football coach Li Tie, so far there have been a lot of FA officials who have fallen from grace, and even the chairman of the FA, Chen Xuyuan, has not been spared, and has become a new "big fish" on the domestic soccer blacklist. In such turmoil, the Chinese men's soccer team's preparation for the new period will soon begin, and their first task is to select the coach!
According to Beijing Youth Daily, a leading domestic media outlet, the Chinese Football Association recently held a national soccer selection meeting. During this time, Serbian coach Jankovic was interviewed by an evaluation panel consisting of veteran domestic soccer experts such as Xu Genbao, Shen Xiangfu and Wei Kexing. During this interview, the panel unanimously recognized the coaching ability of Jankovic, who will be the new leader of the national soccer team. Officials may make the announcement after some due process has been completed!
Jankovic is still coaching China's U23 men's soccer team, which he is leading in preparation for the upcoming Asian Games. If the Chinese Football Association decides to let him coach the national soccer team, it will no longer be able to coach the U23 men's soccer team. According to Beijing Youth Daily, the current plan of the soccer association is to find a new coach for the U23 men's soccer team to lead the team to the Asian Games. Jankovic will put all his energy into the Chinese national team, but until a new coach is in place, Jankovic will continue to coach the U23 men's soccer team.
Yankovic chose to take over the national soccer team and the task is not easy. This is because in the second half of this year and the beginning of next year, the World Cup qualifiers and the Asian Cup will start, which are two of the most important games for Chinese fans. In the last World Cup qualifiers, the national soccer team went through coaching changes twice, from Lippi to Li Tie to Li Xiaopeng, all of them performed worse and they were fired because of their bad records. It's safe to say that the position of the national soccer team has now become a hot potato, and it's quite brave of Jankovic to dare to take over.
One of the reasons Yankovic dared to take over the national soccer team was his salary. When Li Tie was coaching the national soccer team, his salary was revealed by the domestic media to be around 8 million yuan per year, far more than what international players were earning at the time under the Chinese Super League's salary restriction. This news caused many fans to be upset at the time. According to media source Pei Li, Jankovic's salary will not be made public to avoid causing controversy again. However, some fans speculated that if Jankovic were to enter the national soccer team, his salary would never be less than Li Tie's, and the significant increase in income would be a major factor in his willingness to take over the national soccer team!
I wonder if the national soccer team will be able to get out of its slump under Yankovic's command?
